"Wow," I thought, "look at the size of that bumble bee on the verbena." As I ran outside with my camera I scanned the verbena for whatever it was I had seen.
Please forgive the poor quality photo, it had the uncanny ability to scoot sideways or backwards in the time my camera took to take the photo. This is the best photo I got.
From what I can tell, it's a Snowberry Clearwing Moth, Hemaris diffinis. It's considered a small hummingbird moth, measuring 1 1/2" to 2 " and, as you can see, it resembles a bumble bee. Like other hummingbird moths, it's active in daylight hours.
I was amazed to see one in the garden. I'd heard about them and read other blogs which mentioned them, but I had never seen one before. It's movement was very hummingbird like as it hovered in front of blooms and then backed up, and flew sideways to the next bloom.
A very interesting creature!
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
